HL Deb 24 April 1968 vol 291 cc733-4WA
LORD SALTOUN

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Having regard to the undertaking given and announced to the House on 15th May, 1946, which German War Memorials were liquidated or tampered with by His Majesty's Government or in the British Zone, and to what extent.

LORD CHALFONT

Following the undertaking to which the noble Lord refers, the four-Power Directive on this subject was amended at the instance of Her Majesty's Government in order to make it clear that German War Memorials were not to be disturbed unless the inscriptions or emblems on them glorified German militarism or the Nazi Party. Although there is no complete record of the action taken under this Directive in the British Zone of Occupation, it is clear that British Commanders applied it with very great restraint, and that very little offensive material was found. Detailed figures are only available for one of the four regions making up the British Zone: these show that in only two cases were War Memorials altered to remove offensive features and no War Memorial was destroyed.